Introduction:
As we progress, our focus shifts to the sensations of breath—an eight to ten-minute breath-based practice designed to relax both body and mind.
- Direct your attention to your breath.
- Observe how your breath flows in and out of your body automatically yet rhythmically.
PAUSE
- Become aware of your posture.
- Feel how your body is arranged on the floor.
- Notice different parts of your body.
- Become aware of the present moment. Feel the wisdom of knowing. Knowing that you are in the present moment. The present moment is unique, never having happened before and never to be repeated.
PAUSE
- Now, gently move your tailbone in and out.
Observe how your core reacts to this movement. Notice the natural curve of your spine and how your entire spine responds to this movement, activating your lumbar and engaging your neck, elevating your crown slightly towards the sky.
Your body is now in the lying Tadasana pose. Pose of readiness, the expectation of something amazing about to happen.
PAUSE
- Allow yourself to merge with this feeling of something amazing, something novel approaching.
- Can you sense this readiness?
- Contemplate the ability of mindfulness and its truthful companion, wisdom. There’s much talk about mindfulness, being present, and being in the now. By now, we all have a fairly clear idea of what mindfulness is.
- But wisdom? Why wisdom and what is wisdom? Wisdom, in the context of this meditation, is the sense of “just knowing.” It is clear knowing, beyond words, knowing what is happening right now.
- Wisdom is being aware of how your body is arranged in this space, activated and ready to receive.
Wisdom is powerful, kind, attentive to the present moment, aware of what is actually happening.
- Wisdom involves distinguishing between mindfulness and mindlessness.
- Associate this newly discovered wisdom of knowing with mindfulness of breathing.
PAUSE
- In other words, watch your breath.
- Body and breath—find mental qualities of watching the breath.
- Just watch the breath, nothing else.
- No explanation, no analysis, just watch the breath.
- Set aside the influence of your mind; the mind is trying to inject critical thoughts while you are watching the breath.
- Do not try to evaluate or analyze this breath.
- Just try to create concentration over your breath.
- First, notice the coolness of breath in the nostrils as the breath comes in.
- Then the warmth and moisture as breath moves out and toward the mouth.
- No concern here for right or wrong, good or bad.
- Good and bad, right and wrong are objects and processes of the mind.
- Set these aside for this practice.
PAUSE
- Perhaps, notice now the inconsistency of the breath; it is always changing.
- Some breaths are short, some long, some satisfied, some not.
- The principle of inconsistency and imperfection is your companion throughout this practice.
- Body and breath, nothing else.
- Now start developing concentration on watching the breath by breaking the breath into little segments.
- The breath moves through the entire body, even down to the toes and up to the top of the head. Most of it may not be felt, but you can feel it in the pelvic floor area, and abdominal area, releasing it all at exhalation.
- It is very subtle, more like fullness and pressure. Discover that the pelvis moves slightly, macroscopic movements. See if you can develop this concentration.
- See if mindfulness of the breath helps you find this movement.
PAUSE
- Some of you may think now: are mindfulness and wisdom central to our liberation?
- Will developing these qualities be beneficial for our positive emotional states?
- And what is a positive emotional state? Is it joy and happiness? Perhaps it is.
And if you agree with the thought that liberation is joy and happiness…if you want to experience this joy and happiness now, see if you can bring images into your mind to cultivate these feelings—feelings of joy and happiness—cats, dogs, flowers, children playing—whatever helps you to bring the feeling of delight. Light in the morning, sunrise, sunset, cool breeze—all of these cultivate delight.
- Once you find it, bring your attention to it. It tells your brain that it is important, it is good. It asks your brain: “Brain, take it seriously.”
NANA G SMITH 